Roku and Quibi are engaged in talks over the short-form streaming service’s content library, according to a report.
On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal said Quibi was in “advanced talks” for a deal that would allow Roku to acquire its catalog of mobile-first shows.
Financial terms of the deal were not reported by the Journal, but the newspaper said the deal would involve Rokuacquiring streaming rights to Quibi’s content library.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Roku would do with the content, though it’s possible the shows would live on the Roku Channel if a deal was reached. The Roku Channel is an ad-supported streaming service with thousands of movies and TV shows licensed from third parties. The service is native to Roku’s line of streaming TV devices, though standalone apps are also available for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android phones.
Quibi launched in April as a short-form streaming TV service that primarily targeted smartphone users. It neglected streaming TV devices at first, which may have contributed to its eventual demise as more people were stuck at home in April and the following months due to the ongoing coronavirus health pandemic.
In October, Quibi announced it would shut down as a streaming service, leaving its content library in limbo. The app officially closed in December.
